Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.

April 1943. Clinton, Iowa. Chicago & North Western Railroad "Mrs. Elibia Siematter, employed as a sweeper at the roundhouse." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information.

July 1939. "Migrant boy removing guitar before family leaves for California. At old homestead near Muskogee, Oklahoma." View full size. Medium format safety negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration.

September 13, 1923. Washington, D.C. "W.H. Murphy of the Protective Garment Corp. of New York stood less than ten feet from [Frederick County, Md.] Deputy Sheriff Charles W. Smith in police headquarters Wednesday and let the deputy fire a .38 caliber revolver straight at his chest. When the bullet hit, Murphy never batted an eye. Inventors ot the bulletproof vest, which weighs about 11 pounds, have put iten the market for the protection of police and other officers in emergency cases. The bullet which Deputy Smith fired into the vest Wednesday was presented to him for a souvenir." View full size. National Photo Company.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.